Ferrari Lost the ‘Testarossa’ Trademark To Who?

Forget Dollar Shave Club—you’ll soon be able to get a clean, close shave with your Testarossa shaver. Fancy a bike ride? why not do it on that new Testarossa bicycle? If you thought Testarossa was just reserved for cars from Maranello, think again: that razor and bike are just two of the products Autec AG plans to brand with the Testarossa name. Sound crazy? It actually looks like it will happen.

In a strategic trademark dispute maneuver, the German-owned Autec AG recently eeked out the right to use one of Ferrari’s most well-known brand names. Kurt Hesse, a Nuremberg toy manufacturer, argued that since Ferrari’s Testarossa super car ceased production after 1996, Ferrari had not sufficiently used the name for several years. Representatives of the Prancing Horse weakly countered that maintenance, repair, and restoration services are still being supplied to Testarossa owners.

In the end, the court sided with the toy company.

According to the online component of German news site, Der Spiegel a court spokeswoman said, “A brand has to be used to keep it protected, which the company [Ferrari] has not done here.”

Ouch.

It’s not all over for the legal team from Maranello; Ferrari can still appeal the decision.

Ferrari Lost the ‘Testarossa’ Trademark To Who? was last modified: August 8th, 2017 by David Bilger